Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Observations from the 49ers' 71-63 overtime victory against UNC Asheville on Wednesday:-- The game marked the first start of the season for 49ers senior center Chris Braswell, a preseason All-Atlantic 10 second-team pick, who was suspended for the season’s first game for breaking a team rule. As the 49ers got off to one of the fastest starts in program history, coach Alan Major elected to have Braswell come off the bench rather than disrupt what was an effective starting lineup.

Braswell, who had been averaging a team-leading 13.3 points, scored four Wednesday, making 1 of 6 shots and missing two 3-pointers.

-- 49ers senior forward J.T. Thompson, who had played in 12 games and averaged 15 minutes per game, didn’t play. Major said he wanted to give some minutes to freshman center Mike Thorne and that it wasn’t a bad idea to give Thompson’s knees (both of which have been operated on recently) a rest.

-- UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach on the 49ers: "We’ve played some good teams this season (a win against St. John’s and narrow losses against N.C. State, Tennesee and Providence). None of them were as physical as Charlotte. They might have better teams than (Charlotte), but they didn’t play as hard or as tough, and we didn’t match that.”

-- UNC Asheville guard Keith
Hornsby is the son of musician Bruce Hornsby. The elder Hornsby played the
national anthem on his piano when the Bulldogs opened their new arena in 2011
against North Carolina.

-- Braswell’s insertion into
Charlotte’s starting lineup doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing will happen
to junior guard DeMario Mayfield, who is second on the team behind Braswell in
scoring. With Braswell starting, Mayfield now becomes a very effective sixth
man.

I'll take any win I can get over a team thats played close at NC State, Providence and Tennessee, plus beat a St. Johns team on the road this season. Recall also that Asheville returns all of its starters from a squad that took the No. 1 seeded Syracuse to the wire in round 2 of the NCAAs last year before losing by 7. Asheville was a good test for this young Niners team.

Can someone please tell me why we've reverted to the Lutz dribble the clock away before attempting to get a shot, instead of the passing/driving attack we used the first 10 games ???Asheville has a good team, but , Ingram and Clayton....thank God for freshmen ! Get Mike Thorne more playing time !!!

Beat another losing team? Sure, Asheville's record reflects a not-so-good team, but look at WHO they played and then tell me how they're a "losing team". Sure, they lost games. But they were losses to good teams (With the exceptions of Upstate and Wilmington). Asheville lost 4 starters and 2 bench guys. Asheville had the game with the final possession but missed the shot, so unfortunately they took a loss in OT. Definitely a good win for UNCC, but they still lack a big win for the season, unlike Asheville who upset St. John's in NYC.

Charlotte will be lucky to win 8 conference games...they have played no one...FSU and Miami are not even that good. This team is better than last year but they are not good. D onot let the 270th strenghth of schedule fool you.

A10 is the 5th best conference this year from a rpi perspective(ACC is 3rd best). If the 49ers can get through the A10 schedule at above .500, then we have done something worth bragging about. Only one of the 12 OOC wins is worth mentioning and that is our win at Davidson.

Chris Braswell will do something stupid to ruin this team. Major and his staff have shown they cannot curtail a star or pivotal player implosion (Spears, Derrio, Phil, even Briscoe). It's only a matter of time. The 49ers will finish 6-10 in the A-10 at best.

I'm glad Braswell is here. I wish Briscoe was still here. He could really shoot the basketball. And I think the implosions by Derrio, Phil, and Spears were blown out of proportion by fans with significant animosity towards Lutz.

Briscoe would not be playing here if he were still on scholarship. He'd be on the far end of the bench because Ingram is the same player on offense and plays defense as well, which Briscoe couldn't or wouldn't do.I'm glad we have people on here who know what's going to happen-that Braswell will ruin the team. This saves me a lot of time actually watching the games. Lutz treated his guys like babies and Major treats his guys like men. Once you've been babied as a twenty year old man, its tough sometimes to act like a grown up[. No animosity toward Lutz-just an observation.

Yep, Lutz did absolutely everything wrong and Major does everything absolutely right.

No one needs to watch the games because Braswell is obviously a punk who will ruin the team.

Lutz babied his players which is why we had a forward with a surly attitude and a center with grade problems and a bunch of jucos. Major treats people like men which is why we have a guard with a surly attitude, a forward with a marijuana conviction, a guard with grades issues and a bunch of jucos.

And, yeah, we will lose games in the A10 this year because it is Lutz and Braswell's fault. No animosity.

How come Lutz did everything wrong and yet took us to 5 NCAA Tourneys and never had back-t-back losing seasons?

I love Lutz and respected him. Major has a lot of work to do. But, it's not his fault. He's NEVER been a head coach and was allowed to hire a staff that had no head coach. So, we wait, we learn and while some of us, others bash Lutz -- an alumnus -- for having to watch us grow.

Yea, everything is exactly the same now as when Lutz coached. I know that isn't what you said. Just like the previous poster didn't say Lutz did everything wrong and Major does everything right.Which current guard has a surly attitude? I sit very close to the court and haven't sensed this at all. I also haven't heard any current players curse the coaching staff out loud lately, as a certain BC transfer used to do.